Self-Managed Property Owner

There are several factors that have converged recently that make the decision to do it yourself cross the threshold into actually costing you money. Unless there are consumer software tools we are not aware of, it’s just too hard to have your properties up on all these sites and have a quality web site pulling organic search traffic in your direction. Then you’re only one property in a tough labor market – fighting for the attention of contractors as a one-off property. And how do you physically check their work?

Strong Online Presence

1. We have your property on virtually every single vacation rental site that guests are now shopping on at no cost to you. Do you really want to buy all those listings and manually manage all those bookings?

2. iTrip’s in-house web marketing efforts result in 20% of total bookings coming for our web presence – not the listing sites. It is the “original content” from iTrip’s in-house blogger that Google’s search algorithm rewards us for with first-page results.

3.iTrip also does pay-per-click ads, banner ads, and iTrip captures guest’s emails that “bounce” from our site and email them wondering why they didn’t book. When guests inquire about a property whose dates are booked, we automatically send them quotes for properties that can sleep that many people that are available the dates they need.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

4.Reviews are now an absolute requirement for top bookings. Even 4 years ago when I had a new property with no reviews yet, guests would ask “What’s wrong with this property?” It’s a highly concerted effort to get a property off the ground for this reason, but we have done it many times successfully. We text, we email, we cajole and sometimes beg guests that rent those new properties for reviews. Reviews are a major part of guests feeling comfortable paying thousands to book a vacation relying on pictures alone – think about that!

5.Reviews can be related to the property itself or the service they can expect once they come to the property – equally important factors in the attractiveness of booking your home. Getting the high volume of good guest reviews to appear high in the “sort order” requires a full-time focus on guest service and chasing the reviews once a guest has left. (we dangle the carrot of a slight discount to return with no blackout dates, and a Starbuck gift card as thanks) This is why major listing sites pull all old reviews off a listing if someone else starts managing it. The property manager can be as important as the property itself, and to maintain review integrity that guests depend on, a new manager means starting over at zero on reviews. We put extra focus on new properties for this reason – to get at least 5 reviews so the listings sort higher, and to get the bookings once a guest likes your property.

Proper Pricing

6.Figuring out how to price properties and minimum nights correctly to maximize income is a skill acquired over lots of time with lots of practice and market feedback with many properties and seasons. VRBO owners chronically underprice their properties. iTrip created a fabulous tool that enables us to pull price and occupancy data from the rental sites (since we are a top listor with HomeAway/VRBO) on properties that we hand-select to be considered a “comp” to yours. The software recommends a price it based on that. This alone would make me throw up my hands as an individual owner and say “Uncle! I will do better with iTrip than without them!”

Top-Notch Guest Service

7.Guests now are more demanding than ever, and their satisfaction requires a physical presence in Breckenridge. Vendors in Breckenridge during the ski season have a hard time prioritizing even property managers’ work who give them a lot of work. We can’t imagine how many discounts VRBO owners have to give due to maintenance issues that ruined guests’ vacations. We have what it takes to rectify ANY guests issues, any time of day, or day of the year!

Self-Managed Property Owner

There are several factors that have converged recently that make the decision to do it yourself cross the threshold into actually costing you money. Unless there are consumer software tools we are not aware of, it’s just too hard to have your properties up on all these sites and have a quality web site pulling organic search traffic in your direction. Then you’re only one property in a tough labor market – fighting for the attention of contractors as a one-off property. And how do you physically check their work?

Strong Online Presence

1. We have your property on virtually every single vacation rental site that guests are now shopping on at no cost to you. Do you really want to buy all those listings and manually manage all those bookings?

2. iTrip’s in-house web marketing efforts result in 20% of total bookings coming for our web presence – not the listing sites. It is the “original content” from iTrip’s in-house blogger that Google’s search algorithm rewards us for with first-page results.

3.iTrip also does pay-per-click ads, banner ads, and iTrip captures guest’s emails that “bounce” from our site and email them wondering why they didn’t book. When guests inquire about a property whose dates are booked, we automatically send them quotes for properties that can sleep that many people that are available the dates they need.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

4.Reviews are now an absolute requirement for top bookings. Even 4 years ago when I had a new property with no reviews yet, guests would ask “What’s wrong with this property?” It’s a highly concerted effort to get a property off the ground for this reason, but we have done it many times successfully. We text, we email, we cajole and sometimes beg guests that rent those new properties for reviews. Reviews are a major part of guests feeling comfortable paying thousands to book a vacation relying on pictures alone – think about that!

5.Reviews can be related to the property itself or the service they can expect once they come to the property – equally important factors in the attractiveness of booking your home. Getting the high volume of good guest reviews to appear high in the “sort order” requires a full-time focus on guest service and chasing the reviews once a guest has left. (we dangle the carrot of a slight discount to return with no blackout dates, and a Starbuck gift card as thanks) This is why major listing sites pull all old reviews off a listing if someone else starts managing it. The property manager can be as important as the property itself, and to maintain review integrity that guests depend on, a new manager means starting over at zero on reviews. We put extra focus on new properties for this reason – to get at least 5 reviews so the listings sort higher, and to get the bookings once a guest likes your property.

Proper Pricing

6.Figuring out how to price properties and minimum nights correctly to maximize income is a skill acquired over lots of time with lots of practice and market feedback with many properties and seasons. VRBO owners chronically underprice their properties. iTrip created a fabulous tool that enables us to pull price and occupancy data from the rental sites (since we are a top listor with HomeAway/VRBO) on properties that we hand-select to be considered a “comp” to yours. The software recommends a price it based on that. This alone would make me throw up my hands as an individual owner and say “Uncle! I will do better with iTrip than without them!”

Top-Notch Guest Service

7.Guests now are more demanding than ever, and their satisfaction requires a physical presence in Breckenridge. Vendors in Breckenridge during the ski season have a hard time prioritizing even property managers’ work who give them a lot of work. We can’t imagine how many discounts VRBO owners have to give due to maintenance issues that ruined guests’ vacations. We have what it takes to rectify ANY guests issues, any time of day, or day of the year!